Superdog: Apocalupus
by Matthais Unidostres
Summary: What was happening with Krypto, Kevin, Streaky, Bathound, and the Dog Star Patrol during the event of Superman: Doomsday? How would they all react to the death of Superman? Most importantly, what will Krypto do now that the one he connects to the most and always strives to be like has been taken away? Also, what new fiendish ideas will Doomsday give Mechanicat?
1. Chapter 1

_We all know of the infamous _Superman: Doomsday _story arc, in which the evil Kryptonian Super Soldier is awakened and kills the Man of Steel. Now, I must ask, what if this plot lines was somehow put into the _Krypto the Superdog _cartoon? Of course, this would never happen, since the cartoon was kid friendly and lighthearted. Well I say NAY to that! Today's kids can handle more than focus groups think! So, without further ado, I give you all (Please forgive the lame pun, which might just be a spoiler for the climax):_

**Superdog: Apocalupus**

**Part One: The News**

On the planet of Cainus Magnus, Planet of Giant Dogs, it was complete and utter chaos. Enormous cat bots stomped across the town, crushing houses and scaring the living daylights out of the dogs who have never seen anything bigger than they were before. Their military sent out a group of tanks to fend off the giant cat bot battalion. However, the shells merely bounced off the metallic legs of the cat bots. The evil machines laughed as they reached down and picked up the tanks like toys. The not so giant dogs jumped out of the tanks screaming as the robots crushed the machines in their clawed grip.

Meanwhile, high above the planet floated Mechanicat's Space Station of Evil. In the bridge, Mechanicat laughed maniacally as he held a large ray gun on his lap.

"Thanks to my amazing new Growth Ray invention, it will only be a matter of time before I rule this entire planet!" he said, and he reclined back in his chair and laughed maniacally.

Snooky Wukooms smiled, "Indeed, you Geniousness!"

Suddenly, the door to the bridge slid open and Delilah ran in excitedly, with a look of malice in her face. She cackled wildly as she strode into the room.

Mechanicat turned his chair around fast and glared at Delilah. "Did I say you could interrupt my evil laughter and gloating with your own cackling?!" he complained.

The cat smirked cruelly as she quickly ran up to the control panel and typed into it. "Check out what happened back on Earth! Ooh, how I _love it!_"

Mechanicat looked uninterestedly at the screen. However, as the images came in, his expression changed from surprised, to shocked, to disbelief, to wicked delight.

The cyborg cat shook his head solemnly as he began to laugh again, this time more darker and crueler than ever before.

* * *

The Dog Star Patrol's Space Station quickly entered the atmosphere of Cainus Magnus. Seven canine heroes flew out and faced the giant cat bots.

Krypto turned to Mammoth Mutt and nodded, "Ready?"

"And raring!" Mammoth Mutt replied as she inflated to mammoth size. Krypto then tossed her into the head of one of huge cat bots, knocking it clean off.

"Strrrrrrrike!" she said as the cat bot fell down in the street.

At another cat bot, Hot Dog was breathing fire at the robot's leg, causing the robot to wobble.

"Pound away Paw Pooch!" Hot Dog called out.

Paw Pooch chuckled, "Hey! That's not bad!" He then rapidly buffeted the cat bot's weakened legs with all eight of his paws until the legs bent over and the robot crashed onto the street.

Tail Terrier used his tail to tie one of the robot's legs together. It fell forward, and was completely pushed off balance by a strong blow from Bull Dog's horns. As the robot crashed onto the ground, Tail Terrier and Bull Dog bumped paws. However, they were interrupted by the approach of a final cat bot. They fearfully backed up as the massive cat bot reached out with a sharp claw to snag them. However, the bot suddenly stopped dead and fell backwards in a heap. Tail Terrier and Bull Dog looked to see Tusky Husky running along the cat bot's chest. He had shattered the light bulb on the cat bot's head, deactivating it.

"Not bad, eh?" Tusky said as he smiled with his huge tooth.

The rest of the Dog Stars regrouped and surveyed the damage.

Hot Dog hopped up in down in rage as smoke shot out of his ears, "Oooo! Mechanicat makes me boiling mad!"

Krypto looked around sadly at all the deactivated robots, "This is going to take a long time to clear up."

"I beg to differ, Superdog," came Mechanicat's voice.

The dogs looked up to see the villain descend in a smaller purple ship. The hatch opened and Mechanicat stood up, holding his Growth Ray.

"Alright, Mechanicat! It's all over!" Bull Dog called out.

"Indeed it is. You win," Mechanikat replied.

Hot Dog burned with fiery rage, "BRING IT ON, CAT! YOU WNNA PIECE OF ME? I'LL-," his burning aura suddenly went out and he blinked, "Wait, what?"

Mechanicat smiled, and he fired his ray at the deactivated cat bots, shrinking them back down to normal size one by one.

"What is he-?" Mammoth Mutt gasped.

"Eh?" was all Tusky Husky could say.

After the last cat bot was returned to normal, Mechanicat dropped the ray, where it hit the ground and shattered to bits.

"You win this round, Dog Stars!" Mechanicat said with a smile.

"Well then why you smiling like a fox in a hen house?!" Tail Terrier said angrily.

"Well, let's just say after what's happened, you deserve this. I'm not _completely _heartless after all," Mechanicat said as he lay back comfortably in his cockpit.

"What are you talking about?" Krypto asked.

Mechanicat looked at Krypto with a fake wide eyed expression, "What? You don't know?" Mechanicat then laughed manically a little and said, "Know this, Krypto. There will come the day when I finally defeat you. You kind is not invincible, just ask Superman. . ." And with a final triumphant smirk, the cockpit closed, and the ship flew back up into the evil space station, which then promptly flew off into deep space.

The seven superheroes looked up at where Mechanicat escaped too.

"What the hay was that alla 'bout?" Tail Terrier said.

"Beat's me!" Paw Pooch said as he scratched his head.

Krypto frowned at where the space station disappeared into deep space. He then shook his head and turned, "Come on guys, let's help clean this place up. I'm sure Magnuslings will appreciate it."

* * *

Luckily, the damage caused by the giant cat bots was actually quite minimal. The Dog Stars were finished after about an hour. After getting a grand thank you from the mayor, they all prepared to be beamed back up into their space station.

"Beam us up, Scottie!" Bull Dog said into his collar mic. A beam of light shone down and teleported the seven dogs back into the ship.

"Knock it off, you know Brainy doesn't like it when you call her that!" Mammoth Mutt complained while nudging Bull Dog on the leg.

Bull Dog gave her a light friendly shove, "Oh, cripes! Let out a little hot air, why doncha! She don't mind it, do ya Brainy?"

Brainy Barker was hovering in her usually spot at the ship's control panels, however, she now had her back to the other Dog Stars.

Bull Dog looked around nervously, "Uh. . .oh. . .well yikes, sorry Brainy, didn't think you'd take it so hard. . ."

Brainy simply shook her head and hung it even lower.

"Uh, I don't think that's the problem," Mammoth Mutt said nervously.

Filled with a sudden resolve, Krypto flew up to where Brainy sat. "Brainy? What's wrong? What's the problem?" he asked gently.

The Afghan Hound didn't respond, unless a quiet sigh counted as a response. Nevertheless, she didn't turn around and she still hung her head low.

Krypto felt himself get nervous inside, but he pushed it aside and cleared his throat, "Well, listen, whatever it is, we all will help you. I'll do whatever I can, so if you'd just-."

Krypto was suddenly interrupted when Brainy suddenly whirled around and hugged him tightly. This cause the other Dog Stars to gasp and whistle, and Krypto to blush the color of red Kryptonite.

Mammoth Mutt nudged Tail Terrier and said, "_I knew it!"_

Tail Terrier and Tusky Husky exchanged glances and shrugged.

"B-Brainy? I-?" Krypto stammered as he realized that Brainy was silently sobbing.

"I - I'm sorry, Krypto. I'm so sorry. . ." she whimpered as she hugged him.

"But- but you didn't do anything. . ." Krypto said, who was having a hard time forming words due to his racing, thumping heart, "what do you-?"

Brainy Barker broke off the hug and stood nose to nose with Krypto. Her eyes were still moist as she said, "Sorry. . .again. What I mean is, I feel sorry _for __you. . ._"

Krypto cocked his head, "What do you mean?"

Brainy Barker looked Krypto straight in the eye. She sniffed and gathered together all her nerve. "I'm so sorry Krypto. . .but Superman is dead."

. . . . .

"What?" Mammoth Mutt said flatly.

Krypto simply floated there, with a blank look on his face.

"Is this some kind of cruel joke?" Bull Dog said sternly.

"You calling her a liar?" Mammoth Mutt said.

"Did you hear what she said?!" Bull Dog shouted, "Superman? Dead?! That be impossible!"

"Yeah, I'm with Bull Dog! Nothing can crack the Man of Steel!" Hot Dog said.

Tusky stepped forward and said nervously, "Uh, how do you know about this, eh, unpleasantly?"

There was a click as Brainy Barker hit a button on the control panel. The large monitors turned on, revealing photo of Superman fighting a strange creature in Metropolis. The creature was bipedal, with stone grey body, spikes coming out of his joints, and long grey hair. The two were fighting each other wildly throughout the city, and Superman was clearly loosing. Images showed Superman mortally wounded and broken. Eventually the images all showed the creature finally dying as Superman died as well, right in the arms of Lois Lane. Among them were newspaper articles announcing the sad news.

Paw Pooch fell down and put his paws over his eyes as he cried hard. Tail Terrier put a comforting paw on Paw Pooch's shoulder. Mammoth Mutt gasped and covered her mouth. Bull Dog and Hot Dog exchanged shocked and horrified glances.

Tusky Husky just stared into space with wide eyes. "S***-kickers. . ." he finally said coldly, and he turned and left the room rather quickly.

Brainy couldn't bear to look up at Krypto, so she simply stared at the floor. However, she could still sense Krypto nearby, and he didn't seem to be leaving. A few minutes of total silence went by, and Brainy couldn't stand it much longer. She looked up at Krypto. He was staring at the final images, still with a blank expression on his face, his eyes revealing a shocked mind filled with disbelief. Brainy did notice, however, that Krypto's whole body was trembling.

All of a sudden, Krypto fell to the ground, clumsily landing on his side and breathing heavily.

Brainy floated down to Krypto's side and gently ran her paw down his back. "Oh, Krypto," she said, "When I first saw this on the Earth's media-."

Brainy was cut off when Krypto rose suddenly, throwing her against a wall. He then flew at top speed towards the door, bowling through the Dog Stars and knocking them asunder like bowling pins. As the other dogs slowly got up and regained their bearings, Brainy Barker simply laid on the ground, tears running down the face.

_"Why did I have to be the one to tell him? Why did I have to be the bearer of so much hurt to such a brave, strong, caring hero?"_

Then she broke down and wept hard.


	2. Chapter 2

**Superdog: Apocalupus**

**Part Two: The Pain**

Kevin massaged his arm, wincing as he did so. He had pinched himself so many times today, each time hoping he was just having some crazy dream. And yet, he was still seeing that new report and images that came with it. Kevin had always been sure that Superman was invincible, and that no bad guy possibly beat him. But there it was, right in front of him, set to a soundtrack of a brokenly sobbing new reporter who could hardly speak.

Kevin's mother started to cry right away, while Kevin's father comforted her while wearing a stone faced expression. Kevin however, in between pinches, could only think of one thing.

_"Poor Krypto. . ."_

* * *

The hours Kevin sat sitting in his room waiting for Krypto seemed like days. He sat on his bed, just staring at the window, watching the sun set. The boy sniffed and wiped his nose. He got up and paced around the room. "Come on, Krypto," he said softly, "Please come home. . .let me help you."

He then sat back onto his bad and lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. "He must be miserable," Kevin muttered, "The first friend he ever made, and the only Kryptonian friend he ever had, gone forever."

A sudden whooshing sound outside the window cause Kevin to jump up and turn towards it. However, his expectations were short lived when he saw a Supercat hovering outside instead of a Superdog.

"Hey," Streaky said, neither looking nor sounding very happy.

"Hi Streaky," Kevin said.

The pair just stood in silence for a moment, then Kevin sighed and sat back down on his bed. The boy patted the space next to him, and Streaky flew in a curled up onto the mattress next to Kevin.

"How's Andrea?" Kevin asked.

"She cried," Streaky said simply, still wearing a frown, "She's better now, but she's kinda worried about the K-dog. Figured this would hit him the hardest. Heh. Maybe not as hard as that Lois Lane lady, but still pretty hard." Streaky would always crack jokes, but this attempt at one was completely humorless.

Kevin nodded silently.

"He'd always get so excited when he was about to go on a mission with the guy," Streaky went on, "That'd usually mean I'd have to team up with Ace, Stretch, or the Dog Stars to fight whatever villain decided to attack while he was away. Heh. . ." the cat sighed before continuing, "And after the mission, he'd be even more excited. I swear that he can talk as fast as he can fly."

Kevin knew what Streaky was talking about. Krypto loved to talk about his adventures with Superman. His tail would wag and thump the ground with the force of a jack hammer (literally), his eyes would be bright and happy as a puppy. He'd even smile and wink as he'd explain how he couldn't reveal any secrets about the "Fortress of Solitude." He did let it slip that Superman owned a super robot, like how he had Dogbot, but that was the only tidbit Krypto ever revealed.

"So, how is he?" Supercat asked, breaking Kevin's chain of thoughts.

Kevin huffed and got up angrily and leaned on the windowsill, "I don't even know where he is! He could be anywhere! Doing anything! I just don't know! He might not even come back. . ."

Supercat stared at Kevin for a while, then he got up and floated by Kevin and out the window. "You two need each other more than ever right now," he said, "So I ain't eating again till I drag Krypto back here!"

Kevin watched as Supercat became a streak of orange lightning in the sky over Metropolis.

* * *

Superdog sat on the very top of the Daily Planet building, on the top of the golden globe. He wasn't crying, his tear dugs had long since run dry. He wasn't howling either, he had done plenty of that in Death Valley, where no one would hear him. While he was there, he had taken out all his anger on a few hundred boulders. The desert now had a bunch more sand.

Krypto's thoughts were a mess. The word "Why?" was bouncing around his head a lot. At the same time, accusatory questions were assaulting him as well.

**_"Why weren't you there, Superdog? Why weren't you there to help him?"_**

_"I had to help that planet. Mechanikat would've conquered it if I hadn't been there."_

**_"The Dog Star Patrol could've done it without you. They've saved countless world before you cam along. Don't make excuses."_**

Krypto whimpered and hung his head low.

_**"Then again, a weakling like you would've have just died along with him. That might have actually been for the best."**_

Krypto's whimpers got louder as he covered his face with his paws.

"I knew you'd be here," a deep gruff voice said.

Krypto uncovered his face and looked up. "Bathound. . ." he choked.

Ace stood on his Bat Rocket Glider, looking down at the depressed Superdog. He stepped off his glider and said, "Well, can't say I wasn't expecting to see you like this."

"I know you're sorry about what happened. I know you wish you could've said something. So please don't even bother," Krypto said darkly, then he looked up and glared at Ace, "Because you _do not_ know how I'm feeling right now."

Ace glared back at Krypto and said seriously, "_Yes I do."_

"LIAR!" Krypto barked as he fired his head vision in a fit of rage. Ace had lightning fast reflexes and easily dodged the beams.

The two dogs circled each other dangerously. Ace was calm, cool, collected, but Krypto was growling and snarling in rage. Ace felt painful memories of dog fights begin to resurface, but he quickly shoved them back into the abyss for the time being.

"You don't know how I feel!" Krypto barked angrily, "Batman's still alive isn't he? Oh, wait, it's not like you care. He's just your _partner, _right? You're a lone wolf. You could care less, couldn't you! Well Superman and I actually _care_ for each other. So you-."

Krypto was cut off when a bolas shot out of Bathound's collar and wrapped around Krypto's legs. He fell over onto his side and struggled against the ropes, and to his shock, he found that he simply could not break free. Krypto's eyes darted to the glowing blue sphered of the bolas, and then looked towards Ace, who was wearing a slightly saddened frown.

"I knew that you'd be. . .unstable. . .considered what's happened," Ace said, "I'd be a fool to try to talk to you without any precautions. My Partner is always prepared for everything. Which is why he keeps a few anti-superhero weapons in the Bat Cave, in case of things like mind-control or Red Kryptonite. My Partner made yellow powder weapons for Green Lanterns, Kryptonite weapons for Superman, and so on and so on." Ace closed his eyes and hung his head, "However, despite the potentially dangerous situation I'd be putting myself in, I couldn't bring myself to even touch any of those Kryptonite devices. I could never hurt you, Krypto. Loyalty is something that dogs can't compromise. I assume you already know that. Luckily, I had another option."

Ace pointed to the glowing orbs, "Blue Kryptonite. It takes away your powers, but it doesn't hurt you. It's purely necessary, and not a bit excessive. But enough of that. Now, I want you to listen what I have to say to you."

Ace glared at Krypto hard as he stared back up at him.

"Alright," Ace growled, "First, let me tell you about how my Partner and I met." Ace closed his eyes for a moment and spoke as the memories began to come back. "When I was a puppy, I was put into an illegal dog fighting ring. Imagine Hell on Earth. Years of it. My entire early life was constant fighting for my life. The fact that I'm still alive proves that there's a God. Anyway, I eventually managed to escape. I soon ran into my future Partner. We were kindred spirits. But it really began after a bunch of Joker wannabes ganged up on him. I saved his life, and he saved mine. And we've been Partners ever since. Despite what _you think_, we really _do_ understand each other."

Ace stared off into space for a moment as Krypto studied him. Bathound then growled softly, "So you can imagine how I felt when he almost died on me. . ."

Krypto couldn't help but gasp at that.

Ace looked down at Krypto and continued, "There was a super villain named Bane. A masked lunatic who possessed a drug he called Venom. This drug caused this man to grow three times the size, and his strength rivaled that of Superman. My Partner fought him. . .big mistake. . ."

Ace closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. "When I came back after taking care of Joker's Hyenas, I found my partner lying on a table with a broken body, internal bleeding, you name it, he had it. If it wasn't for Al-. . .a friend. . .he would be dead. And what's more, I wasn't there to help him. You can imagine how I felt."

"Yeah. . ." Krypto said softly.

Ace nodded, "Of, course, he got better. He build a robot suit to take down Bane. But that's not the point. The point is that I realized that I could loose my partner. The Superhero business is always dangerous, there's no denying that. I knew that I had to do continue despite all this. People are going to need us to help them, and evil needs us to stop it. That's why I don't stop. It would be an insult to my Partner."

Ace pressed a button on his collar, and a mini-lazer shot out and burned through the ropes tying Krypto's legs.

"So, my friend," Ace said, "Don't say I could care less about my Partner. We're much closer than you'd think. True, I don't know _exactly_ how you feel, but you have to admit, I came pretty close."

After gathering the blue Kryptonite and putting it back in collar, Ace stepped back onto his glider.

"Ace, wait," Krypto said.

Ace turned to the Kryptonian dog.

"I. . . I'm sorry. I was angry and shouldn't have said that stuff. . .or used my heat vision," Krypto added with a sheepish smile.

Ace let the corners of his mouth curl up a bit. It looked like Krypto was getting a little better.

"Don't worry about it," Ace said, and as he turned toward the sky he said, "I understand that it will take a while, but I know you'll get back that super hero passion and that cheerful disposition. In memory of him."

Ace started up his glider and flew off into the distance. Krypto sat in silence as he watched the dark hound fly off into the night.

"HEEEEEY!"

Krypto turned to see Streaky flying over to him, looking visibly displeased.

"Krypto! Kevin's worried sick about you!" Supercat exclaimed.

Krypto's ears and tail shot up at this. He had completely forgotten about his human boy.

"We're all sad about what happened, but couldn't we at least be sad _together_? I mean, being depressed is bad enough! But depressed and alone? That's being trapped in a canned tuna factory without a can opener!" Streaky complained.

Krypto sighed and nodded resolutely, "Yes. You're right Streaky."

Streaky rolled his eyes and continued his speech, "Oh, so that's how your gonna be? Well you should've seen how worried Kevin is! He even was worrying that you might never come back-" Streaky suddenly stopped and blinked, "Wait, did you say I was right?"

Krypto stood up and nodded, "Yeah. I doubt I'll ever get over this, but I shouldn't isolate myself or anything. Especially if I'm worrying Kevin. He's my best friend, the only one who helped me get used to Earth, and I'm not going let him down or push him away. Right now, I think I'm gonna need my friends more than ever."

Streaky flew to Krypto's side and threw a foreleg around his shoulder, "Now you've got it, K-dog. Now let's get back. I told Kevin I wouldn't stop eating til I found you-."

"Really?!" Krypto said incredulously.

"Ha-ha," Streaky snarked, "Anyway, let's head back. I heard a healthy appetite helps with depression anyway. . .I think. . ."

Krypto let out a small grin, but inside he knew it meant nothing. All the guilt, the anger, and the pain was still there. The excitement, possibilities, and positivity was still gone from him. And deep down inside, Krypto couldn't find any reason to care if he go it back or not.

* * *

It was night-time when the pair arrived back in their neighborhood. The pair hovered in front of Kevin's window.

"Tennis ball's in your court, Krypto," Streaky said as he flew back to Andrea's house without another word.

Krypto flew in through the open window and landed in the room.

"Krypto?"

The dog turned to see Kevin sitting up in his bed. He nodded, "Yeah, I'm back Kevin. I-."

Krypto was cut off when Kevin jumped out of bed and hugged him tightly.

"We're in this together, Krypto. Don't go it alone," the boy said.

Krypto could feel it all click into place in his mind. Just as he had felt horrible about loosing Superman, Kevin felt horrible at the thought of possibly loosing him.

Krypto sat there in the human's warming embrace. . .

He still felt cold inside. . .

* * *

_Author's note: The origin story of Ace came from the animated series "Batman Beyond". the episode was "Ace In the Hole." The story of Batman vs Bane came from the animated series "The Batman". The episode was "Traction."_


End file.
